Thanks for visiting this page but i don't write here anymore. I've moved to Medium (medium.com/shaktianspace) and i am quite regular there. Only the platform has changed. Nothing else. Thanks for your not-so-precious time :)

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

When clicks indeed matter

A generation that is marked by extensive fingering on
electronic devices won’t spare few minutes to click a button begs several
questions. One of them being: how exactly does democracy benefit from
absenteeism? No, seriously. Staying at home enjoying a public holiday sounds
more like idle and less like ideal. Besides, the slogan “Everybody is
corrupt” has run its course. If you don’t have the diligence and enthusiasm
to participate in a democracy that can at least—if not anything else—boast of
staying true to electoral principles for almost seven decades now, then you are
passively corrupt too. You’ve been allotted time to perform a duty which also
translates into a privilege. A privilege not all countries can boast of. In
Australia, it’s illegal to not vote. Their logic is simpler there: the
government is allowing you a holiday so you better move your ass to the booth,
mate! Yes, things are bit leaner in our country. Particularly in the urban
areas where people take democracy for granted and then suffer traffic,
potholes, load-shedding, diseases, devilknowswhatelse every second day. Only a
sense of interest and pursuit of unbiased information can help. Calling
everyone corrupt only shows apathy and corruption grows fat on such a lousy
attitude. If you’re truly concerned (and you should be), you should keep a
track on which political party is doing what. Humans, by nature, are more
political than social. And the worst thing that can happen to a
country—democratic or otherwise—is people assuming that being politically
unaware are a symptom of greatness. It’s not. People who are resistant to
updating themselves with current affairs cause the gravest of damage to the
society. Of course, they can be excused if they genuinely feel they’ve
committed too many mistakes in their lifetime to add one more to the list by
pressing a button on EVM. But such self-critical souls are rare. And they
usually end up at the polling centre only to weep on noticing a senior citizen
on crutches in the queue.